Harmony is a critical Javanese philosophical concept used to establish social relationships. In face-to-face communication, the principle of harmony is enacted in an attempt to ensure the social relations between the speakers remain harmonious, peaceful, and free from disputes. In face-to-face discourse, the selection of speech acts that establishes these aspects is a strategic communication tool. Every speech act states a different level of politeness when addressed to different speech partner. Wayang kulit, a leading puppet theater performance of the Javanese, contains face-to-face dialogs that enact such efforts to maintain harmony. This study examines these dialogs between wayang kulit characters to better understand the role that language plays in establishing harmony in this art form of puppet theater. The study uses the classification of speech acts by Searle (1975). It is observed that the choice of illocutionary speech acts plays a role in controlling the occurrence of disputes in communication. These speech acts are also studied from the perspective of the theories of politeness from Brown and Levinson (1978) and Leech (1983); (2014). We argue that politeness in speech is used to express the values of Javanese harmony. The results of this study provide practical insight into the principle of Javanese harmony, represented in face-to-face communication in a purwa shadow puppet performance, and also represents a universal value appropriate for the realization of friendly social relationships more broadly.

Keywords: Javanese harmony; politeness strategy; speech acts; wayang purwa

Anderson, B. R. (1969). Mythology and the Tolerance of the Javanese. New York: Cornel University.

Austin, J. (1984). How to do things with Word (reprinted edition). UK: Oxford University Press.

Aziz, A. A. (2017). Agreement strategies among Malaysian Chinese speakers of English. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies. 168 - 189.

Brown, P. & Levinson, S. C. (1978). Politeness. Some Universal in Language Usage. Strategies in Social Interaction. Cambrigde: Cambrigde University Press.

Cutting, J. (2015). Pragmatics. London : Roudledge.

Darmoko. (2004). Seni gerak dalam pertunjukan wayang tinjauan estetika. Jurnal Makara sosial Humaniora Vol. 8(2), 83-89.

Grice, H. (1991). Logic and conversation. In S. Davis (Ed.), Pragmatics a Reader (pp. 305-315). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gunarwan, A. (2007). Pragmatik: Teori Dan Kajian Nusantara. Jakarta: Penerbit Universitas Atma Jaya.

Harbono. (2014). Studi Kasus Pakeliran Wayang Kulit Purwa Sukron Suwondo Beserta Tindak Tuturnya (Kajian Sosiopragmatik). Surakarta: Universitas Sebelas Maret.

Hawkins, M. (1996). Is rukun dead? Ethnographic interpretations of social change and Javanese culture. The Australian Journal of Anthropology. 218-234.

Kridalaksana, H. (2005). Bahasa dan linguistik. In Kushartanti, U. Yuwono, & M. R. Lauder (Eds.), Pesona Bahasa: Langkah Awal Memahami Linguistik (pp. 3-14). Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama.

Leech, G. (1983). Principle of Pragmatics. London: Longman.

Leech, G. (2014). Tha Pragmatics of politeness. New York: Oxford University Press.

Maros, M. & Rosli, L. (2017). Politeness strategies in twitter updates of female English language studies Malaysian undergraduates. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies.Vol. 23(1), 132 - 149.

Movanita, A. N. (2017, Maret 26). Kompas.com. Retrieved from http://nasional.kompas.com/read/2017/03/26/08465611/2016.konten.berisi.ujaran.kebencian.paling.banyak.diadukan.ke.polisi

Nojowirongko, M. (1954). Serat Tuntunan Padalangan. Yogyakarta: Tjabang Bagian Bahasa Ngayogyakarta.

Poedjosoedarmo, S. (1985). Tingkat Tutur Bahasa Jawa. Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa.

Rahyono, F. (2015). Kearifan Budaya dalam Kata, edisi revisi (rev ed.). Jakarta: Wedatama Widya Sastra.

Searle, J. R. (1975). A Taxonomy of illocutionary acts. In K. G. (Ed.), Language, mind, and knowledge. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Searle, J. R. (1991). Indirect speech acts. In S. Davis (Ed.), Pragmatics: A reader (pp. 265-277). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sudaryanto. (2015). Metode Dan Aneka Teknik Analisis Bahasa: Pengantar Penelitian Wahana Kebudayaan Secara Linguistis. Yogyakarta: Duta Wacana University Press.

Suratno. (2012). Kajian Sosiopragmatik Tindak Tutur Adegan Limbukan Dalam Seni Pertunjukkan Wayang Purwa Di Surakarta. Surakarta: Universitas Sebelas Maret.

Suseno, F. M. (1991). Etika Jawa. Jakarta : PT. Gramedia.

Thomas, J. (1996). Meaning in Interaction: An indtroduction to Pragmatics. London: Longman.

Wierzbicka, A. (1992). Semantic, culture, and cognition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.